Paul Crocetti likes to play, watch and discuss tennis. He makes an annual pilgrimage to the U.S. Open in New York. He is currently the editor of the Waltham News Tribune.
This new blog will mainly discuss the professional game, from smaller
...

Paul Crocetti likes to play, watch and discuss tennis. He makes an annual pilgrimage to the U.S. Open in New York. He is currently the editor of the Waltham News Tribune.
This new blog will mainly discuss the professional game, from smaller tournaments to the majors. Business Editor Bob Tremblay, an avid tennis fan, will also provide his thoughts. Join the conversation!

This was not your typical baseline-to-baseline slugfest that we see often nowadays. This instant classic had an exhilarating amount of variety – serve-and-volley, backhand slice to backhand slice, aces (mostly for Federer), great defense, wicked forehands and crazy angles, to name a few.

And it was so tight all the way through. For a lot of the match, break point chances were few and far between. But that’s not surprising, given who was playing. Federer, especially, served off the charts throughout the tournament, dropping serve just once in the previous six matches. In the championship, he had more aces (29) than any of his matches in recent memory, all the more impressive considering the returning skills of Djokovic. Federer would have had about 50 aces against someone more mortal, as Djokovic is perhaps the best in the game at stretching and just barely getting a racquet on the ball, but giving himself a chance in the point.

While there was just one break of serve through three sets, the fourth set got wacky, with five breaks. Federer, down two sets to one, was twice down a break, no doubt hindered by the loss of his old reliable – his forehand – at this moment in the match. Djokovic actually had a championship point on Federer's serve and served for the match but surprisingly was not able to hold his lead and shut the door.

And so, you think, momentum to Federer as the fifth set starts. But this is where Djokovic is so dangerous. He rivals Rafael Nadal as the strongest player mentally in the game. Djokovic didn’t let Federer get a lead in that fifth, though he came close. And then when Djokovic got his moment again, a couple of championship points on Federer’s serve, he was not to be denied.

The tournament was quite a turnaround for the seven-time Wimbledon champ Federer after he exited in the second round last year. His addition of coach Stefan Edberg has clearly helped, and he especially saw the benefits on the grass at Wimbledon, playing wonderful serve-and-volley tennis for two weeks. It wasn’t as successful against Djokovic, but that’s because he can hit some of the best passing shots in the game.

Djokovic seemed to keep a cooler head in the final than he did in his semifinal match against Grigor Dimitrov. Sure, he talked to himself frequently (which is one of the funniest sights on a tennis court), but he wasn’t edgy like he was in the previous match. And he played to the crowd well, urging them to cheer louder at key moments – a crowd, by the way, that was about 98 percent for Federer.

All of a sudden, Djokovic has now won as many Grand Slam titles as John McEnroe and is one away from Andre Agassi, Ivan Lendl and Jimmy Connors, who all had eight. But it had been a while – last year’s Australian Open – since Djokovic lifted a major trophy above his head. He had come so close a few times, so this one was very special. Thus, the tears.

And for the 17-time major champion Federer, as he said, he knows he doesn’t have 10 Wimbledons left. Certainly that thought played into his emotions on the court after the match. But he does have some game left in him, as shown by these past two weeks, and for that, the tennis world is grateful.